FAO has just announced that 13 projects, involving 30 countries, have been selected for funding as contributions to the implementation of 2007’s Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources. That’s thanks to the Governments of Germany, Norway and Switzerland, who put more than US$1 million in voluntary contributions into the appropriate FAO Trust Account, as per the Funding Strategy of the GPA. What are these projects? Well, it’s not all that easy to say. These are the directions FAO gives us:
Details of the projects are available here (scroll down to the map).
The map in question is nice enough, and clicking on the country gives you lots of information on each project, but what I really wanted was just a list, giving titles and countries. And I couldn’t find that anywhere, though maybe I just didn’t look hard enough. With just that map, interactive and all, you get a good overall idea of geographic coverage, but it’s very difficult to figure out the range of livestock species involved in the projects, or how many are single-country as opposed to multi-country initiatives, for example. A pity.
Ah, but fear not, we’ve got you covered. Here’s the list you know you wanted but FAO wouldn’t let you have, going roughly from east to west, painstakingly extracted from that ever-so-pretty map.
- Regional Project: Cook Islands, Fiji and Niue
Title: South West Pacific Animal Genetic Resources Project — Conservation of indigenous pig and chicken breeds in Fiji, Niue and Cook Islands - Country: India
Title: Documenting and supporting community-based conservation of four local breeds - Regional Project: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Title: BushaLive (cattle) - Regional Project: Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda
Title: Promotion of indigenous chicken for improved livelihood and income generation - Country: Mozambique
Title: Conservation of native cattle breeds of Mozambique, for their present and future use - Country: Nigeria
Title: Conserving the Muturu Breed of Cattle in South Rain Forest Zone of Nigeria - Country: Togo
Title: Phenotypic and molecular characterization of local chicken in Togo - Regional Project: Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Senegal
Title: Assessment of the impact of transhumance on the sustainable management of animal genetic resources - Regional Project: Algeria, Morocco
Title: Preservation of Beni Guil sheep breed by semen exchanges between countries - Regional Project: Argentina, Brasil, Costa Rica
Title: Enhancement of Farmers Communities through Goats Utilization and Genetic Improvement - Regional Project: Bolivia, Peru
Title: Capacity strengthening for the implementing breeding strategies for llamas in Bolivia and Peru - Country: Uruguay
Title: Caracterizacion productiva y conservacion en ovinos criollos de Uruguay - Country: Chile
Title: Estrategias de conservacion in situ para bovinos y caprinos
Funny this coming hot on the heels of the launch of FAO’s monumental new data portal.